First Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres Captured By NASA Dawn Spacecraft

December 8, 2014 5:55 AM

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The first images of the Dwarf Planet Ceres was captured by the spacecraft Dawn on December 1st. Dawn was launched way back in 2007 aboard the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 17-B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft was sent to study the asteroid belt and two specific targets- The asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.

The payload of the spacecraft Dawn is composed of two cameras, a visible and infrared mapping spectrometer which is capable of revealing surface minerals, as well as a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer which will help to identify elements which forms the outer portion of the asteroids. Dawn will al...